An ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) startled residents of the city of Dourados, the second-largest city in Mato Grosso do Sul.
The animal settled in the canopy of a tree in the urban area, in the Jardim São Cristóvão neighborhood.
The environmental police were called, but since the animal was calm, they chose to simply monitor and wait for it to leave on its own.
The ocelot, often mistaken for a jaguar cub, is nocturnal, and it was expected to leave the tree and head to a nearby forest as night fell.
That’s exactly what happened.
When the resident who had called the police woke up the next day, they no longer saw the animal in the tree.
The neighborhood is part of the city’s newer subdivisions. This expansion of the urban area into rural land often leads to the appearance of wild animals in the cities.
It’s not uncommon to rescue them even inside homes in Mato Grosso do Sul.
According to the Onçafari Institute, the ocelot is considered the most versatile feline in Tropical America, being present in more than 80% of the surveyed areas of Brazil.
It measures between 72 and 100 cm in length and can weigh up to nearly 16 kg.
Its diet consists of rodents, fish, opossums, armadillos, pacas, rabbits, and others.